CBS News Iraqi interpreter freed in Basra

February 13, 2008 9:56:15 AM PST

BAGHDAD (AP) - February 13, 2008 --

An Iraqi interpreter for CBS News kidnapped in Basra was freed Wednesday, but a British journalist remained in captivity, police said.Police Brig. Gen. Shamkhi Jassim said the interpreter had been handed over to authorities at the same hotel where he was seized in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

But the British journalist who was kidnapped with him remained in captivity. The director of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office in Basra said negotiations were continuing for his release.

Journalists gathered at the hotel saw the Iraqi interpreter being escorted by police to their main headquarters.

CBS News said Monday that two journalists working for it were missing in Basra, but it did not identify them.